In an investigation published on the Mediapart site, Senator Esther Benbassa (EELV) is accused of harassment by her collaborators.
The online media reports the testimonies of eight former collaborators and six former students that the elected representative employed at the Practical School of Higher Studies.
All evoke a "climate" of terror established by the senator, made of pressure, blackmail for employment and systematic humiliation, often on the occasion of emails, individual or collective, and SMS consulted and transcribed in part by Mediapart.
"I could myself make mistakes"
While her group in the Senate meets this Thursday evening, the elected official denounces in a press release published on her Twitter account "an investigation of the charge" and presents "her apologies" to the people she "may have hurt".
"I particularly deny having knowingly and deliberately chosen to endanger the health of my employees."
Press release: my reaction to the publication of an article about me on Mediapart.
pic.twitter.com/iav7okV0mk
- Esther Benbassa 🌻 (@EstherBenbassa) July 8, 2021
A former collaborator accuses her in particular of having tried to make her postpone a major medical operation to the lungs under the pretext of a busy political agenda at the time of the pension reform, in 2020.
Another accuses him of having pressured him to come and work in the cabinet in full confinement and while the rules of the Senate stipulated that the presence on the spot should only be exceptional.
A former assistant notes in her "quite violent changes of mood".
“She could be adorable and suddenly become abhorrent and humiliating,” he testified.
"It was very quickly complicated, I felt a permanent anxiety at the idea of ​​going to work and I feared the moment when it could be detestable", confirmed another ex-employee at Mediapart.
"I am not immune to mood swings"
As a result of this management, the staff turnover was very high, since more than 18 parliamentary assistants were employed in two terms, Mediapart count.
“I could have made mistakes myself, sometimes without realizing it.
I am said to be human, even warm, but I know that I also happen to be direct.
I am not immune to mood swings, ”confesses the senator in a statement released Thursday evening.
"But if I am demanding, I am also anxious to value the work and the efforts of my collaborators", she adds, presenting her "apologies" to "those and those whom I could hurt".
Read alsoSexual harassment in politics: the National Assembly singled out
The EELV group takes the full measure of the accusations
“The Ecologists - Solidarity and Territories group takes the full measure of the accusations made against Esther Benbassa.
The testimonies reported are serious ", reacted on Twitter the group of environmental senators, which specifies that it" meets this Thursday evening to take all the necessary measures ".
Reaction of environmental senators following the testimonies reported by Mediapart today pic.twitter.com/XJLkPY72jI
- Senators environmentalists (@ecologistesenat) July 8, 2021
In a press release "supporting victims of harassment", the CGT union of parliamentary staff stressed that "the profession, because of its link with politics and power relations, is often too tainted by this type of violence" .
